title: Surgical technique: static intramedullary nailing of the femur and tibia without intraoperative fluoroscopy.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  On a recent mission directed at definitive care for victims of the Haitian earthquake, the orthopaedic team developed a technique for freehand distal locking of femoral and tibial nails without intraoperative fluoroscopy or proximally mounted targeting jigs.
  
  
  METHODS
  After performing open antegrade or retrograde nailing by standard techniques, the freehand lock must be obtained before doing standard outrigger locking. This allows the surgeon to control the nail and deliver the locking hole in the nail to a unicortical drill hole in the femur. Before nail insertion, the distance of the desired locking hole is measured from the outrigger in a standard way such that it can be reproduced after the nail is inserted. Through a unicortical drill hole, the nail is palpated with the tip of a Kirschner wire and systematic maneuvers allow the Kirschner wire to palpate and fall into the locking hole. The Kirschner wire is tapped across the second cortex before drilling. The screw is inserted, and the ball-tipped insertion guidewire is placed back into the nail to palpate the crossing screw confirming position.
  
  
  METHODS
  We treated 16 patients with 18 long bone fractures using the described technique. We assessed patients clinically and radiographically immediately postoperatively.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 19 blind freehand interlocks were attempted, and 17 were successful as assessed by direct intraoperative observations and by postoperative radiographs.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We describe a simple technique for performing static locked intramedullary nailing of the femur and tibia without fluoroscopy. This technique was successful in most cases and is intended for use with any nailing system only when fluoroscopy or specialized systems for nailing without fluoroscopy are not available.
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, Orthopaedic Trauma, Edinburgh, UK. neiljwhite@gmail.com
authors.forename: Neil J
authors.initials: NJ
authors.lastname: White
authors.forename: Anthony T
authors.initials: AT
authors.lastname: Sorkin
authors.forename: Geoffrey
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Konopka
authors.forename: Todd O
authors.initials: TO
authors.lastname: McKinley
mesh_terms: D001864:Bone Wires; D005264:Femoral Fractures / Q000601:surgery*; D005471:Fluoroscopy; D005594:Fracture Fixation, Intramedullary / Q000379:methods*; D018460:Fractures, Comminuted / Q000601:surgery*; D006620:Hip Fractures / Q000601:surgery*; D006801:Humans; D007432:Intraoperative Period; D013978:Tibial Fractures / Q000601:surgery*